


robbers

by yerimoney



Category: Red Velvet (K-pop Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-28
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-04-14 04:19:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14127912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yerimoney/pseuds/yerimoney
Summary: and she said, babe you look so coolinsp.- robbers by the 1975; sm season's greetings





	1. final

"are we going to talk about this?" sooyoung asks. she's drunk, and her veins are pulsing. and they're cooped up in a small little apartment of some person, and joohyun stares back at her impassively.

she follows the line of joohyun's neck, following the bob of her throat up and down as the older girl takes a few swigs of the bottle. and she follows every swallow, every small puff of air she lets out after that, and the silence. except for the music playing in the back.

and at last, "about what." it's not a question, it's a statement. it's simple, because they know what it is. they know that they haven't been dancing around it, because it's probably too short to tell, but it's still there.

"this thing," she tries to form the words, her mind a little blurry but charged with dumb courage. "this thing we have. like how i haven't left you. and how we're still here."

how joohyun kisses her cheek before she goes off for the next robbery, and how their fingers touch whenever sooyoung learns how to hold a gun. and it's soft skin, and the tingles up her arm, and it's the other girl's quiet smile and the cold surface of the trigger.

sooyoung finds the idea exciting- anyone would. they found each other at a gas station, where she almost called the police on a girl cooped up in her car trunk. but all joohyun needed to whisper was "drive," and they left their lives behind.

she finds it stupid. even now. but she still finds the idea slightly magical. she also finds the way joohyun wears that green jacket of hers pretty, and she finds the slope of her shoulders quite fitting.

she watches as joohyun blinks, looking down. her eyelashes flutter. "i think it's okay."

i think we'll just forget about this tomorrow.

sooyoung shifts forward a little, drumming her fingers to the music. "maybe i should leave."

joohyun doesn't say anything, and she prods a little more.

"i should get back into college or something. get into the university my parents like. yeah. it's an hour ride from colorado. although i probably can't do that anymore." she laughs a little, although it's not funny.

she stands up. takes the gun from the holster on joohyun's lap. gazes at her vague expression.

i kind of like you, she thinks. she doesn't know how it works. but she thinks she knows what it is. she likes this girl. this girl who's completely an idea- someone cut off from the world, running from the authorities, stealing and running. this girl, who's really beautiful and wears a green jacket everytime she goes out with her collar slightly messed up and her glasses on her nose. who only smiles when sooyoung tells her a little bit more about her home and her parents.

it's this blurry, condensed glob of emotions that she doesn't know if she can let it out into the air. so she's going. "i'm gonna be out for a walk," she announces.

she turns around, but she's waiting. and she takes the first step.

then she feels it. warm fingers holding her wrist, almost slipping but firm in their grip. she stops almost immediately. she doesn't know why her breaths are coming out slightly ragged. maybe it's because she really is hoping for the best, and that normally doesn't happen. but it's getting there, and it's frightens her.

"stay," joohyun whispers. "stay. stay."

she echoes. it echoes down to sooyoung's irregular heartbeat, and it makes it way down to her feet and all over. it's something that matters. or maybe it's the booze. but she can hear joohyun whispering this over and over again, and she can still feel her fingertips pressing against the skin.

"okay," she breathes, voice shaky.

she sits this time, right in front of the other girl. the liquor suppresses the fear in her veins, and it numbs the pounding in her head. and really, all she sees are joohyun's dark eyes and her parted lips. and all she hears are their breaths close.

she doesn't understand how much she could want someone, and only get a dull aching in their bones.

joohyun places a hand on the back of her neck and pulls her in without saying anything. and their foreheads touch, noses bumping into each other and-

and sooyoung can kind of hear it, the lyrics-

_and i'll give you one more time_

joohyun kisses her. sooyoung can't help but kiss her back. she feels her own collar being pulled forward forcefully as the older girl moves sideways, planting fleeting kisses across her jawline. then she kisses her again.

_we'll give you one more fight_

sooyoung tangles her hands through raven locks and closes her eyes. because this is what she always wanted- someone who felt natural. like you kissed them not just because you wanted to, but they made you feel like kissing them.

_say one more lie_

it feels natural when sooyoung slips joohyun's jacket off her shoulders and moves her hands down the older girl's arms, rubbing against skin.

joohyun leans forward and kisses her a little more before placing her chin on sooyoung's shoulder, burying herself. she presses another kiss there. "stay," she mumbles again. then she doesn't move, only mumbling against sooyoung's neck. "please stay."

she says it like it's a question to sooyoung.

the beat pulsating from the radio sounds like a heartbeat.

"i won't leave," she promises. even when it's not the same thing.

and joohyun knows that. "just stay," she whispers. "stay."

she doesn't answer, but joohyun doesn't necessarily demand for one as she places more kisses across, pressing her lips to sooyoung's collarbones and her shoulders.

sooyoung holds her breath when joohyun gets her hands under her shirt, exploring the skin there. and it doesn't feel like those stories where fire is burning all over her skin, but there it is again- that dull aching in her bones.

it just feels nice.

_but if you just took off your mask_

"joohyun," she starts, slightly breathless. the other girl doesn't answer, but her movements stop.

and like sooyoung didn't need to ask at all, she pulls away.

a minute later and they fall onto the bed, sooyoung above joohyun. and she does what she needs- she she takes joohyun's shirt off and starts finding every single place she can place her lips on. her neck, collarbones, trailing from the plane of her breasts to her stomach.

she doesn't know what she's doing. but it's something.

then she pulls away, only to find the other girl with eyes trained on her and nowhere else.

_you'll find out everything's gone_

"hey," she says softly, voice husky and sweet.

sooyoung thinks that's a bit unfair. she looks away.

"sooyoung," joohyun says again, and sooyoung feels a hand touching her chin and turning her towards the older girl's gaze.

_wrong_

sooyoung is a little scared by this sincerity that's flowing in her veins. she wasn't really one for truthfulness anyway. because she looks at joohyun, and the only thing that's rubbing through her mind is just- just wow.

her mother's told her so much about meeting someone who made you feel like you were upside down and sometimes made you feel too much. too many messy emotions.

she didn't tell her about someone who just made you stare with fascination. something that felt so simple. like, so i like you. want you. need you. whatever. i really do.

maybe that's why it feels too intense.

"stay," joohyun whispers again, and sooyoung leans down to kiss her.

 _now everybody's dead,_  she hears someone scream.

joohyun pulls away, eyes flickering and looking at her. looking down. up again. and they kiss again, and sooyoung can feel the pounding in her head and the drumming in her veins.

(more importantly, she can taste vanilla chapstick, the kind that she knows joohyun likes to wear.)

_and they're driving past my old school_

sooyoung buries herself in the crook of joohyun's shoulder. "tired."

the other girl doesn't say anything and just shifts a little so they're lying side by side.

she turns around to face the other girl, and she gets a little closer to press her lips to her collarbone. she takes off her shirt, rushing a bit with the buttons. places it gently on the side of the bed.

joohyun says nothing as she takes her in, but a small smile is on her face. then it faces until her eyes only say a certain kind of wistfulness. she puts an arm around sooyoung, tracing small circles on her back.

"we'll wake up tomorrow," she promises.

_he's got his gun  
he's got his suit_

"you have to answer the original question," she reminds joohyun. she feels a bit like liquid coffee (?), all warm and a little muffled. or muddled.

"tomorrow morning, maybe."

sooyoung wants a definite answer. but nothing has ever been definite with joohyun, so she acts like she's okay with getting what she can. "tomorrow morning," she agrees.

they drift off to sleep as sooyoung feels for the other girl's hand in the dark and interlaces their fingers together. it's a nice feeling, she thinks. her hands are a little small. but they're coarse, like they know too many things.

 _she said babe_  
you look so cool, you look so cool  
you look so cool  
you look so cool, you look so cold  
you look so cool

...

sooyoung watches as joohyun walks over swaying a little, only in wearing an unbuttoned shirt. she laughs softly as joohyun crawls onto the bed beside her and presses a kiss to her jawline.

"good morning," joohyun mumbles. sooyoung smiles a little at that. "breakfast is on the counter."

"did you eat yet?" she asks.

she feels the other girl shake her head. "i have to get to work soon."

"okay."

they stay in comfortable silence before joohyun lights a cigarette and fills the air with wafts of smoke and grey. offers it to sooyoung. she takes it.

"so i was thinking."

sooyoung takes a long drag before replying. "hm?"

"this thing. thing. this... thing between us," joohyun starts, staring at the t.v. numb as the headlines flash her face and her name. i-"

she stops, clearing her throat. and sooyoung knows. knows that she's not really going to continue, and that whatever's been in her head is faltering.

she doesn't press for anything, instead only leaning back a little more into the bedpost. taking another drag. "you know, my mom always wanted me to be a doctor."

she feels the other girl chuckle. it's something that makes her smile.

then joohyun speaks again. "so... surgery or like those general kinds?"

"kids. i wanted to be a specialist for kids."

"so it's something you wanted."

"yeah, kind of. like it was a the best i could make out of it. look at me now, though." she laughs, only coughing after her lungs remember the smoke in them.

no one says anything at that, because it's a topic that she knows joohyun would keep on placing it for tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. so they sit in comfortable silence.

"dance teacher," the older girl says softly, suddenly.

she jerks back into reality, looking at her. "what?"

"if i didn't......." joohyun trails off, just like with everything else. "i would have been a dance teacher. it's just- just something i'm good in."

she says nothing more, and sooyoung is left to contemplate what that means, because joohyun has told her her virtually nothing about her (past) life. and she remembers last night, and she remembers thinking if it would count.

(she remembers waking up at 4 in the morning, and she remembers freaking out a little and jumping out of the bed as the other girl remained unperturbed.

she remembers staring at her for five minutes, only watching as strands of hair covered her face and her chest rising up and down. how she burrowed herself into the bedsheets and how her hand stayed limply at her side, not changing from the position it was from the last night.

sooyoung wonders if holding hands means anything. if it means anything will change between them.

she's not even sure about these things- she doesn't know how infatuation works. how liking someone or loving someone works. but she kind of wants to try, if it's with the girl in front of her. it shouldn't hurt, right?

she climbs back in the sheets, interlacing their hands together again. she considers lying closer to joohyun, but she thinks that's not where they're at yet. that's for another time. maybe tomorrow morning.

she sleeps.)

sooyoung only looks at her and smiles a little. not a full smile, just one of those that are more of a timid promise or just pointing out 'hey, you're here too.' "i think that would be pretty cool."

joohyun contemplates this for a while, like she hasn't really thought about this in a long time. which she probably hasn't. "yeah," she says softly. "me too."

hey, you're here too.

joohyun gets off the bed (not before she presses a soft kiss to the sooyoung's forearm for some reason), grabbing her green jacket and a pair of jeans. she doesn't say anything as she puts them on, doesn't even spare a glance. and sooyoung thinks, maybe nothing has changed at all.

but joohyun turns around right before she leaves. but joohyun asks, "you're not...... going anywhere, right?"

she can make this count, she thinks. she can make last night mean something. (joohyun's expression, for the first time, seems all too delicate and too hoping.)

"i'm not going anywhere," she reaffirms.

(in truth, she might have wanted her to stay. but it's the best she can do for now.)

the older girl nods, biting her lip. shifting her weight left and right, her sneakers making that squeaky rubber sound. "good," she smiles. "that's good."

she closes the door and sooyoung lays back in bed, cigarette in the ashtray and a slight humming in her bones.

_\- dh00278_

_180329_


	2. bonus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> and if you never shoot you'll never learn - based on the robbers mv by the 1975

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just couldn't resist

"sooyoung." she whispers.

"hm?" sooyoung opens her eyes slightly, still groggy from the sleep she just got. and there joohyun is, small smile and a hand on the younger girl's thigh.

"we're here," she informs quietly, either to not interrupt the others who are awake, or just to announce it only to sooyoung. like she doesn't know it yet.

she knows. yeah, she kinda knows. she's just taking some time to believe it.

joohyun's taken her on a few of her trips before- but sooyoung has never stepped an inch out of the car, always just looking out the window with suspended breaths and twitching fingers. no one really knows what happens when you grab a whole multitude of cash and products from different stores. (sometimes, from banks.)

but this time, maybe she can relax a bit. because joohyun has gotten herself a couple other people for this time, and they can take care of her, right? they're experienced in this. they're supposed to be.

she looks at the other people- there's seulgi, checking off some random things on a piece of paper. seungwan, who's looking through the back for god knows what. yerim, who only listens to the music and taps her fingers on the wheel.

she doesn't know these people, she realizes. she doesn't know what they do, she doesn't know who they are, where they come from.

does joohyun? but the older girl in front of her seems to be completely at ease, and it calms sooyoung a bit too. she knows her joohyun. if she can trust someone, surely sooyoung can too.

(she keeps in mind on how to get out of this car just in case anything happens. just being cautious.)

she squeezes joohyun's hand, watches as the other girl smiles a little at that. "take care of yourself," she whispers.

then something is different. it's not necessarily a shift in the air or anything, but joohyun opens her mouth and closes it, as if debating with herself.

she has something to ask.

sooyoung waits.

"will you wait outside?"

this is it. this  _has_ been it- the exact words sooyoung had dreamed of falling from joohyun's mouth, in the quiet way of hers. lips pursed, eyes silent but pleading.

(joohyun's eyes do not plead. they hope with uncertainty.)

so why does her body sink, like these were the last words she wanted to hear?

yerim continues tapping on the steering wheel, seemingly patient.

she's still tapping.

"okay," she breathes. gets up, lets the other girl pull her up at the same time. then the sound of the door sliding fills her ears, and sunlight fills the inside of the car.

_wait, no. stay- stay in this car. stay safe. please. as much as i love-_

"well, go on," the brunette- seulgi, right? says. "we don't have all the time in the world for your snogging, do we now?"

sooyoung chuckles as joohyun leads her out of the door, feeling her grip tighten at the sound. her soles meet the concrete ground.

they walk forward for a while, towards the supermarket right in front of them. sooyoung doesn't hear the door slide behind her. but she hears the sound of sneakers slapping against the pavement, and that's reassuring enough for her.

they stop.

joohyun lets go of sooyoung's hand and reaches for her neck scarf.

sooyoung's fingers search for joohyun's and bring them back, locking them in place. "wait." she says firmly.

the older girl raises her eyebrows, curiosity on her face. it slowly melts into reassurance as joy plays with her neck scarf a little, tying the edges.

other hand pulling a bit at the fabric of her jacket, almost pulling thread out. the coarseness of one almost cuts her finger (not really, but she can feel it as she rubs it against the thread.)

joohyun never says anything.

and sooyoung leaves warnings and promises in the atmosphere, because they never will and never can be answered.

she leans down to kiss joohyun, briefly. no burning ache in her chest. no muddled thoughts. it's just them. this is what they are. and she can feel reassured about that as she feels joohyun smile against her lips.

then, as she pulls away, the other girl pulls up her neck scarf. and all that is visible is the dazed determination in her eyes.

sooyoung hears her own breathing as joohyun pulls out her gun.

//

sooyoung stares in awe as it's pulled out, joohyun only staring at at the entirety of the gun in her hands.

"why'd you bring it out?" she asks, and the other girl only shrugs. finger only tracing the outline of the weapon before settling on the trigger.

then she laughs as the older girl only takes a swig after and plays around with it, grinning at sooyoung.

"do you wanna go to new york next?" joohyun asks, still playing with the gun but eyes on the younger girl.

sooyoung only rolls her eyes, playfully. "like you'd know where to drive."

joohyun laughs and takes another gulp of the bottle. "you're completely right."

they sit in silence after that, only giggling as joohyun waves the gun around. sooyoung could grab it with the stretch of her hand. but she settles for the warmth of joohyun's smile instead of the cold surface of the trigger.

she's staring at her, head tilted and mouth quirked when joohyun suddenly points the gun.

her breath stops, immediately sucked in and her fingers dig into the wall. but joohyun only laughs as she doesn't move away.

she doesn't know what comes over her- annoyance? rage? when she pushes her away. "that's not funny," she warns, as the other girl stumbles back.

but there it is again, the gun pointed at her. "joohyun." she says, seriously. "that's not fucking funny."

"come on."

"no." then when joohyun steps a bit closer- "no! i'm not joking, get off me. fucking stop right now."

she doesn't know at all. it's a whole mix of being terrified and angry that the older girl hasn't clicked safety mode, that her hand is on the trigger.

that joohyun only takes the bottle and takes another swig. still holding her at gunpoint.

"what do you think if i did this?" joohyun shaking it closer to sooyoung repeatedly and raising her eyebrows. "what would you do?" she raises her voice, eyes in some kind of tired rage, boring into sooyoung's.

"put the gun down."

then the gun is lowered, but sooyoung turns away. and she walks.

and she can hear joohyun calling after her, but she doesn't care to listen. not after what she did.

what kind of person-

she continues to walk.

(sometimes she thinks she misses peace and tranquility. when her mother used to make dinner whenever she came home and when she didn't need to change apartments every month.

it's something she always had with joohyun- the girl always had a way of making her feel safe. like she was the only home sooyoung needed to return to. when the corners of her mouth quirked up. when she liked to sing softly. when she didn't and sang through the mic and danced together with her.

so why is she thinking of home now?)

"park sooyoung!"

she keeps on walking.  _don't stop,_ she tells herself.  _don't stop._

who knows the hell where they are. but everything's worth a try right now, the only thought that surfaces amongst a web of thoughts she can't sift through.

"sooyoung-" a hand on her shoulder- she turns around- "hey, look. look at me-"

she can't. not when the other girl's eyes are bloodshot and her voice breathless. not when her grip speaks of things even sooyoung didn't know she was afraid of.

joohyun kisses her. kisses her jawline a little bit. and sooyoung is stuck in place, but she keeps slamming her fists onto the other girl, closing her eyes. "that wasn't funny," she tells her. "that wasn't fucking funny."

she doesn't know if she heard, anyway. but joohyun kisses her again, lips desperate and pleading. and when sooyoung opens her eyes, she finds her lonely and tired, and sad.

she doesn't say sorry, but sooyoung's too caught up to remember.

//

joohyun gives her one of her signature smiles. "don't wait too long for me."

and she kisses her jawline again, her fingers making the slightest contact with her neck. and this time, there is a churning in sooyoung's stomach- it's either nervousness or dread.

joohyun lingers for a bit, like she wants to stay.

"stay safe," and the words are stuck in sooyoung's throat again.

then the older girl turns away and starts to jog. and she doesn't look back as she opens the door.

sooyoung watches her disappear and holds her breath.

and immediately, just like every other time, blurred commotion  can be heard through the supermarket walls. she barely hears joohyun, who shouts: "hands up!" and the sounds of people screaming blurred together.

 _bang!_  and sooyoung almost jumps out of her skin, before remembering that it's probably joohyun's gun.

every single time, joohyun takes about four minutes. and then she's running out, grinning like a madman. grinning at sooyoung, getting into the car and telling her: "gogogogo," and she steps on the gas.

she counts the time. taps her shoe against the ground. waits for joohyun.

scratches against the sleeve of her shirt. eyes searching, although there's nowhere else to look at.

and suddenly, she's back in that little room when joohyun told her to stay. when they laid in bed together, with the other girl's hand on her back and questions that were answered the next morning.

the same dread settles over her again as she hears bare minimums of voices. and she can hear one voice, louder than the rest, but she can't make out who it is.

it's a good 3 minutes now.

and it's like something washes over her, this unspoken nervousness. like everything that could go bad is about to go bad, and they got themselves into this shit situation.

_you'll find out everything's_ _gone_

a gunshot rings out.

_wrong_

and joohyun always only shoots once.

_"joohyun!"_

she runs.

...

_"are we going to talk about this?"_

"come on, joohyun."

_"about what."_

joohyun gasps, almost falling down as sooyoung catches her and holds her up. clutching at her stomach.

_"about this. this thing we have."_

"we have to keep going. come on, we're only a few steps, just a few more."

_like how i haven't left you. and how we're still here._

goddammit, joohyun is heavy. "we have to go," she reminds her, pushing her a little more forward.

"yerim!" sooyoung shouts, seeing the van only a few more steps away.

the door opens and seulgi jumps down, taking joohyun's other arm and wrapping it around her neck. "unfortunate," she hears her mutter under her breath. "wendy, help me get her up."

it's a flurry of motion before they get joohyun propped up against the backseat. and then seulgi is already carefully applying pressure on the wound. and joohyun yelps. "it hurts," she shakes her head. eyes closed shut and teeth gritted together.

"seungwan, call the hospital. yerim. yerim! drive faster," seulgi shouts at them. then she tries to hold joohyun down as her body convulses. and she's clutching at her wound, the gunshot wound which is a mess of blood at her abdomen. "it hurts it hurts it hurts-"

"hold her down for me," seulgi tells sooyoung, and they shift over.

and then joohyun is crying. "sooyoung-" and then it tears into a scream, and her whole body is jerking forward until sooyoung pushes her back down, hands on shoulders.

sooyoung frantically searches for medical supplies, and mentally slaps herself for not asking earlier. one hand is firm on joohyun's chest while the other swings wildly amongst the seats, trying to find the goddamn first aid box.

"sooyoung, it hurts," joohyun is whimpering, reaching for her forearm. "it hurts. please, please make it stop, make it stop-" another cough and a gasp.

"joohyun, it's gonna be okay. it's gonna be okay, baby," she turns back to the older girl, "look at me, we're going to the hospital soon, okay?"

and joohyun is shaking her head again. "i'm scared," she finally says. "fuck. fuck fuck fuck  _fuck,_ i'm scared. i'm scared, sooyoung!"

"i know baby, i know-"

the car bumps and then joohyun is slammed against the seat again, and inhumane sounds make the way to her throat.

seungwan hangs up the phone.

"what are you doing!" she yells at her.

and then seungwan looks at her blankly, like it's common sense. "they asked for her name. unless you want her arrested, i don't think it's the best idea to go anywhere where authorities are."

"she's going to fucking die!" she screams. she knows she could just let silence fill the gap. but she isn't, because impulsivity is running through her veins right now, and she'd do anything to keep joohyun alive.

then seungwan turns towards yerim. "pull up at the board."

seulgi comes over again. "where the fuck is the box," she mutters. then she's sitting down at the corner, just watching the girl who's completely an idea scream and thrash and cry, snot and tears running down her shirt, only barely missing the pool of blood on it.

"seulgi, get me a cig, get me a fucking cig," joohyun is coughing i've she sees her. and when seulgi doesn't respond, "please just do it," she sucks in a breath and lets it out again in a shudder, still shaking. "go!" she screams as she tries to to clutch at her wound. sooyoung holds her hand in place, trying to calm her with patterns at the back of her hand.

the cigarette does come, and joohyun coughs out blood as she smokes it, but she doesn't stop. and sooyoung thinks it's completely unhealthy, judging by how worse it looks. how joohyun blinks her eyes to convince herself it's working, and how she eventually goes numb.

and she quietens down a little, although she's still shaking and still gasping, but she's not crying anymore. and she shoots a small smile at sooyoung.

//

she's laughing, swaying to the music against the booming beat of their hearts.

and it's the same song all over again, and sooyoung watches, always with the same fascination she's regarded her with.

and joohyun is singing. she's singing loudly and unfiltered, and sooyoung feels this as an absolute privilege.

and she's pointing at her. at her, singing. to her. and she crouches down, eyes smiling at sooyoung.

"yeah?" she asks, softly. her breath tickles at sooyoung's hair. her mouth only an inch away from hers.

"yeah," she nods. laughs. "yeah. yes."

and then joohyun is kissing her again, her lips tender and soft and  _she says babe,_

joohyun holds the mic for sooyoung to sing. and she whispers, "you look so cool."

the red light washes over their faces, and everything feels fine.

_\- now everybody's dead_

_180616_

**Author's Note:**

> happy irene day!! i love her so so much


End file.
